Edge of Eternity (1959)

Edge of Eternity is a 1959 crime film starring Cornel Wilde, Victoria Shaw, and Mickey Shaughnessy. Directed by Don Siegel, it was shot in CinemaScope on location in the Grand Canyon.

Director – Don Siegel

Writers – Marion Hargrove (screenplay), Richard Collins (screenplay), Ben Markson (story)

Cast –
Cornel Wilde as Deputy Les Martin
Victoria Shaw as Janice Kendon
Mickey Shaughnessy as Scotty O’Brien
Edgar Buchanan as Sheriff Edwards
Rian Garrick as Bob Kendon
Jack Elam as Bill Ward
Alexander Lockwood as Jim Kendon
Dabbs Greer as Gas station attendant
Tom Fadden as Eli
Wendell Holmes as Sam Houghton
Bernhard “Barney” Dehl police officer (uncredited)
Hope Summers as Motel Owner(uncredited)
Guy Way as Charlie Piper(uncredited)

Watch “Edge of Eternity” (1959)

Plot

A man has parked his car and is looking into the Grand Canyon with binoculars when someone releases the emergency brake and pushes the vehicle toward him. He is able to leap out of the way at the last moment, and in a fierce struggle knocks his attacker over the rim to his death.

The man is then seen wandering, dishevelled and talking apparent nonsense by Eli, an old prospector who tells a Deputy Sheriff about it. However, Eli has a reputation for telling tall tales, so the deputy ignores him to chase an attractive woman, Janice Kendon, speeding recklessly down the road. On returning to the abandoned mining office he calls home Eli finds the man dead, hanging with his hands bound behind him.

The Deputy and Janice team up to solve the murders. Janice provides a vital clue when she identifies the hanged man’s suit jacket as being made by an exclusive New York City tailor. It develops that he is an Eastern executive of an Arizona mining company. Martin correctly assumes the man has made the cross-country trip to investigate possible theft from the company.

Meanwhile, Eli becomes the murderer’s next victim, stabbed to death by someone he welcomes into his home as a friend.

Janice’s brother Bob is a rich wastrel who spends most of his days at Scotty O’Brien’s tavern, the sole local drinking spot. While Martin is at Janice’s house, Bob rushes out after a mysterious phone call. A worried Janice follows him, and Martin follows Janice.

It turns out O’Brien has been illegally extracting gold from a closed mine, and expects Bob to fly him to Las Vegas in a private plane. When Bob discovers the murders, he refuses—and O’Brien kills Bob just as Janice drives up.

O’Brien takes Janice hostage in her car and shoots up Martin’s patrol car. O’Brien thinks he is in the clear when he sees no cars following him, but helicopter patrols have kept him in sight.

Martin leaps aboard a cable car that travels over the deepest point in the Grand Canyon. He and O’Brien end up fighting outside the car. O’Brien falls to his death, and Martin rescues and comforts Janice.